Art & Media Studies

Iconology of the Steel Kashkul Decorative Patterns of the New York Metropolitan Museum, (No. 2018.665.1)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Ph.D. Candidatein Comparative and Analytical History of Islamic Art, Faculty of Arts, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran.

2 Associate Professor of Islamic Arts Group, Faculty of Arts, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran.

10.52547/ami.2022.1203.1108

Abstract

The New York Metropolitan Museum’s steel Kashkul, issue 2018.665.1, is one of the metal works from the Qajar period, which was primarily used in the Muharram watering ceremony. The sample from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has special designs and decorations which are influenced by pre-Islamic thinking. The importance of this question necessitated this study to identify the decorative motifs used in the Kashkul steel of the New York Metropolitan Museum No. 2018.665.1 and identify the meanings and concepts of these decorative motives from the iconology of Ervin Panofsky for research purposes. Two questions were asked to achieve the objectives explained: 1. What patterns are used in Kashkul steel from the New York Metropolitan Museum numbered 2018.665.1? 2. What are the meanings and concepts of this decorative pattern based on Ervin Panofsky’s iconography? The present study was done by qualitative analysis of library information and documentary and visual data with a descriptive-analytical approach and the case study includes a steel Kashkul in the New York Metropolitan Museum, 2018.665.1. The research results show the decorative motifs of snakes, Arabesco, plant motifs, The Holy Text of the Quran, and the sun motif... is used to decorate the steel Kashkul of The metropolitan museum and this artwork is a combination of art with Islamic and pre-Islamic-Iranian content. Because Kashkul is a full-fledged vessel-shaped bowl, and in the past, the vessel-shaped bowls were considered a savior from grief, and the Kashkuls are also sacred Islamic vessels in the Ashura watering ceremony, which were formed during the Safavid period in the eclecticism of Shiite and Sufi beliefs and in a way, the Tendency to the antiquity of the Qajar period is evident in this Kashkul.

Keywords

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Panofsky, E. (1962). Studies in Iconology: Humanistic themes in the art of the renaissance. (Icon editions). New York.
Panofsky, E. (2009). Iconography and Iconology: an introduction to the study of renaissance art, in the art of art history. second edition. New York: Oxford University Press.
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/327480, (Access date: 2022/02/06).
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/786860, (Access date: 2021/07/14)
Art & Media Studies
Volume 4, Issue 8 - Serial Number 8
February 2023
Pages 13-41
  • Receive Date: 13 September 2021
  • Revise Date: 13 March 2022
  • Accept Date: 14 March 2022